I'm extracting the cream from my mountain of "neat stuff". So many beautiful things, so many possibilities, and life is so short and health and energy are dwindling. I found a lot of nice lace and my one world class piece of amazing lace: the Bedford bobbin lace collar. The potholders, hankies, crocheted pretties and linen dishclothes are now organized. And that is just the beginning.
I made arrangements to buy the painting I've been wanting for so long. It's an oil of a girl smoking with a cat and 3 birds flying into a thicket by Ian Michael Anderson. It's about the intensity of brooding (just my interpretation and part of my reason for buying it). But just the excitement of owning something so beautiful, and paying $500. for the privilege, has got me looking around and seeing the beauty and value of the artwork I already own. I can't lose this feeling.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sunday, March 22, 2009
OK OK OK So it's been almost a year since I put something on my blog. Now I'm back. This blog doesn't own me. It exists only for my enjoyment, and to get me inspired to stick to a project until it's done which is hard due to my short attention span.
So here is what happened since March 2008: First I started working as much overtime as I could in order to buy a wood stove because the winter was horribly cold without oil heat. By late summer our hours were cut but I had enough money saved to shop for a stove.
On August 1st I fell off a ladder on my deck and hurt my shoulder and my side and lost my hearing in one ear for about 10 days. I thought I was getting better but slowly got worse. I was coming home and doing nothing and gaining weight. I had scans and they found no internal damage. So I put in for retirement but that took 90 days.
My sick leave and vacation time got me through until December but I still had to work 40 hours per month to keep my medical coverage which made the injuries worse. But all is well that ends well. Now my lifelong dream has come true: enough to live on without a job, room to work on my projects, and no interruptions (all the kids are moved out and doing well). Also, it took three months since I retired on Dec 12, 2008 but I have the security of medical coverage now.
And that wood stove I worked so hard for only heats the family room and kitchen. My new dream is that oil prices will stay down so I can heat with oil next winter. There's always something.
So here I am a year later ready to sew my little red wool pieces into a quilt.
So here is what happened since March 2008: First I started working as much overtime as I could in order to buy a wood stove because the winter was horribly cold without oil heat. By late summer our hours were cut but I had enough money saved to shop for a stove.
On August 1st I fell off a ladder on my deck and hurt my shoulder and my side and lost my hearing in one ear for about 10 days. I thought I was getting better but slowly got worse. I was coming home and doing nothing and gaining weight. I had scans and they found no internal damage. So I put in for retirement but that took 90 days.
My sick leave and vacation time got me through until December but I still had to work 40 hours per month to keep my medical coverage which made the injuries worse. But all is well that ends well. Now my lifelong dream has come true: enough to live on without a job, room to work on my projects, and no interruptions (all the kids are moved out and doing well). Also, it took three months since I retired on Dec 12, 2008 but I have the security of medical coverage now.
And that wood stove I worked so hard for only heats the family room and kitchen. My new dream is that oil prices will stay down so I can heat with oil next winter. There's always something.
So here I am a year later ready to sew my little red wool pieces into a quilt.
Monday, March 24, 2008
baby steps
It's not that I didn't make progress on the PROJECTS the last few weeks. I just lost the camera. It is now found & charging. A camera should not become an obstacle so my assignment is to do a post without it. After all I'm just learning.
A large block of time was spent on stripping my king size headboard. I have a good before picture with the depressing brown gunk that covered it and I will get an after of the amazingly beautiful wood underneath.
It was too cold for the stripper, which didn't stop me, but it at 50 degrees it conveniently slowed down the action of the stripper. I went through a whole bag of steel wool scaping gunk. I bought 2 cans of the stripper & the bag of steel wool each for 99 cents at the liquidation sale of a liquidator going out of business sale. I'm not kidding. The down side is that they have been in my basement for several years.
Perfectionism was a nag and the cold & wet weather was an obstacle. I put the headboard in b's empty bedroom to put the sealer on. Big mistake. It was too cold and the fumes were still too strong even with a fan, a heater, and the windows open. So it looks splotchy. I'm waiting until it is at least 65 degrees outside to fix it.
It's going to be so beautiful when it's done.
The red wool quilt took a great leap forward. When Lenore was here March 8th we went to the bins and I found 5 womens red blazers. They were picked apart, washed & dried. Some shrank a lot but not enough to make the wool too thick. Here's a question. Why don't clothing designers use preshrunk wool? It would save a fortune on dry cleaning and hand washed wool comes out as soft as a baby blanket. The only problem I had with the wool was the iron on interfacing. I'm guessing that at 99 cents a pound each blazer was $1 to $1.50. So now the beads are being put away and the red wool will take over the dining room table. That's all for now.
A large block of time was spent on stripping my king size headboard. I have a good before picture with the depressing brown gunk that covered it and I will get an after of the amazingly beautiful wood underneath.
It was too cold for the stripper, which didn't stop me, but it at 50 degrees it conveniently slowed down the action of the stripper. I went through a whole bag of steel wool scaping gunk. I bought 2 cans of the stripper & the bag of steel wool each for 99 cents at the liquidation sale of a liquidator going out of business sale. I'm not kidding. The down side is that they have been in my basement for several years.
Perfectionism was a nag and the cold & wet weather was an obstacle. I put the headboard in b's empty bedroom to put the sealer on. Big mistake. It was too cold and the fumes were still too strong even with a fan, a heater, and the windows open. So it looks splotchy. I'm waiting until it is at least 65 degrees outside to fix it.
It's going to be so beautiful when it's done.
The red wool quilt took a great leap forward. When Lenore was here March 8th we went to the bins and I found 5 womens red blazers. They were picked apart, washed & dried. Some shrank a lot but not enough to make the wool too thick. Here's a question. Why don't clothing designers use preshrunk wool? It would save a fortune on dry cleaning and hand washed wool comes out as soft as a baby blanket. The only problem I had with the wool was the iron on interfacing. I'm guessing that at 99 cents a pound each blazer was $1 to $1.50. So now the beads are being put away and the red wool will take over the dining room table. That's all for now.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
beads beads beads
too many projects - all beautiful Beads all over the dining room table. My red wool squares. The king size headboard I'm stripping. Life is beautiful even though the house is a mess.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Lenore & Daphne visit
Daphne's beautiful necklace. 
Three hours at the bins and no one found any red wool!Saturday, February 16, 2008
Me Again
I thought you might like to meet the family. Pokey is the black and white one in the front. Birdie is sitting on top of the black hat of the lady in the center of the photo.
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